Palmistry: How to Chart the Lines of Your Life - Softcover

Chapter 1

The Hand As A Canvas

Your unique and individual character is mirrored on your hands. Imagine the hands as a canvas, the lines and features upon them as the paint that colours all the hues and tones of your personality and predispositions. The picture, however, is likely to change in time.

You can alter the lines upon your palm. With will and effort, you can be the designer and artist creating the picture of your own destiny. Your metaphorical box of paints is likely to include some colours you never thought of using before. If we link the idea of colour to ways of thinking and being, we may realize that we have so often been using greys and flat, dull tones, whilst forgetting to dip into the brighter, positive shades of hope and love. When these colours are unused, they become dry and cracked, but remain in your paintbox. So use them to colour your life in the best way you can.

The following pages will reveal how the i shape of the hands, fingers and the contours of the palm constitute the framework of your personality.

The Language of Hands

When you are trying to discover the personality of someone you have just met or do not know, how often do you find yourself looking at his or her hands? You may not even do this consciously, but the way in which people use their hands will be telling you much about the personality of the owners.

In many ways, the hands can reveal more about someone than the face, especially when it comes to first impressions. We can change our facial expressions, 'put on a brave face', smile with just our mouth but not with our eyes, etc. Make-up can make people look very different and many people succumb to the plastic surgeon's scalpel. Hands, however, have a language of their own that is less easy to manipulate. When people are carefully controlling their facial and verbal expressions, their hands are often telling quite a different story. Gesticulations can therefore be very revealing. Think of how the hands are used to demonstrate so many feelings: drumming fingers in impatience, making fists in anger and pointing the forefinger in aggression or accusation. Biting, picking or clicking the nails, cracking the knuckles and other fidgety habits usually suggest a nervous disposition or a habit stemming from childhood that is difficult to break. Effeminate men often affect a limp wrist and women tend to have looser and more flexible wrists than men. Look at the hands of tiny babies: even at this early stage in life, individual gesticulation patterns are established.

In business, we set great store by the handshake: if it is firm, we interpret it as a good, decisive sign, while a weak handshake is taken as an indication of a vacillating, unassertive nature. Remember, however, that a finn handshake can be faked. There are far more subtle ways to find out the way another person is thinking. Supposing you are discussing a business arrangement with someone and notice that the thumbs are held inwards, towards the palm. This suggests that the other person is not revealing feelings of annoyance and may also be secretive. A more positive sign is rubbing the fingertips together, especially those of the thumb and the little finger, which occurs when trying to generate the flow of ideas. Ring-twisting shows convoluted thinking. Placing the ring finger under the middle one can mean that financial issues are not being openly revealed.

Hand gestures are also used to insult others. In some countries it is rude to point the index and middle fingers up at someone, forming the 'V' sign. The origins of this insult are interesting. When the longbow was used in battles, these two fingers drew the bow, and soldiers had them cut off when they were taken prisoner. For this reason, the fingers were often pointed at the enemy in a victorious, jeering gesture.

The fingers rings are worn upon can also be revealing. In old paintings of important people, rings tend to be worn on the index finger, the finger of power and ambition. Gay people often adorn their little fingers with a ring. A ring chosen to fit the middle finger can link with a slight psychological quirk or problem. Making a fist is obviously aggressive and reveals tension. Rubbing hands together usually signals pleasant anticipation. As you can see, there are many ways in which our hands express what we think or feel.

Open and Closed Hands

When you look at hands placed upon a flat surface, it is interesting to note how the owner holds them. Some people naturally allow their fingers to splay open; this literally shows that the overall personality is also likely to be open and that the person is receptive to having his or her hands examined. If the fingers are naturally held close together, the opposite applies and the owner may not be as keen to be scrutinized. Open hands often have spaces between the fingers at their roots where they join onto the palm. You can see the spaces more easily if the fingers are held together and the hand is held up to the light. This means that the person not only has an open nature, but is also generous and friendly, often gregarious, sometimes a little vulnerable and will usually be open to new ideas and experiences. If the fingers bend back easily away from the palm under slight pressure, then the above attributes will be marked and there will also be adaptability.

If there are no spaces between the fingers, the owner may be rather good at holding on to what he or she has, in all senses. On the closed hand if the fingers do not yield to slight pressure when bent away from the palm, but naturally turn inwards towards the palm, it reveals a personality that is far less spontaneous, gregarious and willing to reach out for new experiences than the openhanded type. Inflexible fingers reveal a tendency to resist change: the owner will wish to hang on to things and people that are familiar, adhering to crystallized patterns of existence. Such a person will always need a certain amount of time to adjust to any new phase in life.

Hand Size

The size of the hands can also be extremely revealing. It does not necessarily follow that a large person will have big hands, or that a small person will have little ones. To judge whether hands are big or small, they must be considered in relation to overall body size. Big hands generally belong to people who are good at handling detailed and even intricate activities. A brain surgeon would be likely to have such hands. Small-handed people do not generally take to things that require detailed thought or intricate actions as they tend to apply themselves to matters in hand in a quick and sometimes more intuitive way. The natural impatience of people with small hands is exacerbated if the fingers are short. If the nails are naturally short as well, then the lack of patience could be a real problem.

Small hands often belong to people who are good at organizing and handling things on a large scale. Very dynamic, high achievers with the ability to direct others will usually have hands that are small in relation to their overall body size. Small hands tend to be warm to the touch, whilst long, big, bony hands are often cool. In some ways, this can be seen as a reflection of the two temperaments. Small, neat hands found on a person with a large, tall body can denote great dexterity in handling many activities and can create good co-ordination.

As a rule, owners of broad hands need a feeling of physical freedom and space (see The Outdoor Type, pages 62-63). Those with narrow palms, however, are usually happy with much more indoor, static lifestyles, and can be good at jobs that require a lot of desk work.

The Right and Left hands

Are you right-handed or left-handed? This is the first thing you need to ask when you examine someone's hands. The two hands have a different significance. Physically, they usually vary too, in the shape of the fingers and especially in the lines, although some people's right and left hands are virtually the same.

Always begin a reading by asking the person whose hands you are looking at whether he or she is right-handed or left-handed. Some people are ambidextrous in many ways, in which case it will be the hand used for writing that shall be regarded as the 'right 'hand. The 'left' hand shows the basic personality and predispositions as well as past and current events. The 'right' hand shows how the basic personality has changed or is likely to develop and indicates future events. When you are reading the hands of a left-handed person, you will regard the right hand as the basic one, reflecting the present and past events, and the left as the hand linked with the future.

The two hands illustrated (above) have very different fingers. The index finger is much shorter on the left hand than on the right. As this finger tells us a lot about a person's feelings of confidence and adequacy, this person would have suffered from a lack of confidence, especially early in life, but will grow into far more self-certainty. Note also that the left hand shows a small and weak-looking ring finger, whilst the right hand shows the finger as stronger, no longer rather dwarfed by the middle finger. The owner of such hands would have problems with being positive and discovering creative energies; but as time goes by these qualities will develop.

There are no hard-and-fast rules about how long our fingers should be as our hands are all unique. Usually, however, the index and ring fingers are about the same length, their tips ending halfway up the top section or phalange of the middle finger; the little finger should end at the crease of the ring finger's top phalange. As you read on, you will learn about the lines of the palm and their meanings and see just how different lines can be on each hand. Whenever there is a marked difference, you will know that the owner of the hands has changed, or will adapt, a great deal in the course of his or her lifetime.

Significance of Shape

There are six basic hand shapes and each reveals a great deal about the personality of the owner. It can be easy to assess the shape of the hands from a distance, so once you understand their meanings you will find yourself looking at the hands of people wherever you go.

The hand shapes explained here are archetypal, in that they are very defined types. As you look at more hands, you will find some that obviously belong to one category or another and others that are a mixture of shapes, such as a square palm with spatulate fingers. Sometimes fingers differ from each other on the same hand. If each finger is different, there will be great versatility, sometimes too much, rendering focus and defined direction difficult to achieve.

When you look at the shapes of hands and fingers, do take into account the age of the subject. Older peoples' hands often have distorted bones due to arthritic or rheumatic tendencies, which can become stiffer as the owner ages.

The philosophic hand is a slightly more unusual shape than the five other basic types. It is long, bony and angular with knotty fingers. People with such hands are often interested in religious, literary or occult matters, or other areas that benefit from serious or analytical thinking. They are difficult for others to understand and can be withdrawn. If the finger joints are very knotty, an aptitude for deep, analytical thought will be amplified.

The elementary hand often has few lines on its palm. When this is the case, the rather basic, instinctive nature will be even more simplistic. Pointed and conic hands often have many lines upon them, but if they do not, then the nervous tendencies associated with these hands shall be more earthed and the owner will be able to handle life more calmly. Square hands can benefit from a rather lined palm, in that the need for conformity is given some leeway and freedom. The owner of a very lined spatulate hand can be over-active and find relaxation difficult.

Reading the fFingers

In palmistry, each finger has its own characteristic, which can be very revealing about personality. Each finger is named after a planet. The illustration (below left) shows the relevant planetary symbol on each finger. The first, or index finger, is called Jupiter. It is associated with self-confidence, ambition, a positive attitude to life and sometimes with religion. The second, or middle finger, is called Saturn and is the finger of responsibility, seriousness and balance. It serves as a dividing line between our external personality and our inner world. The ring, or third finger is called the Sun and corresponds with our creative feelings and urges, though not necessarily in the artistic sense. This finger can also reveal one's capacity for happiness. The little finger is called Mercury. It is linked to mental ability and communicative skills and, to some extent, attitudes towards sexual matters.

Finger Types

There are four main finger shapes or types of finger. Square fingers reveal a practical, conventional, sensible and well-organized disposition. If the fingertips are uniformly square, there will be a strong sense of order, a realistic approach to life and a love of punctuality.

People with pointed fingers are extremely sensitive, often quite impractical and can be rather difficult for more realistic and worldly types to understand. If all the fingers are pointed and their tips are long, there will be a dreamy, unrealistic and often over-idealistic attitude. Beauty will be important and reality will often be difficult to come to terms with.

Conic, or round fingers, belong to quick, intuitive people. Such types can be impressionable and therefore vulnerable. Sympathetic, spontaneous and easily moved, conic-fingered folk can sometimes be inconsistent in their emotional responses to others.

Spatulate fingers belong to active, original, energetic people who possess enterprise and a sense of adventure. The enthusiasm generated by a person with spatulate fingers can affect other people positively.

Thumbs

There are two main types of thumb: the supple-jointed and the firm-jointed. The more supple the thumb, the easier it will bend outwards and backwards away from the hand. When supple and flexible it donates a person with a flexible disposition and a broad mind who can sometimes be unconventional. This person will tend not to be too opinionated and will therefore be receptive to new ideas. The owner of such will hate discord and always try to avoid aggressive situations. There can be a generous nature, exhibited not only in material ways, but also in a generosity of spirit. Humanitarian attitudes can be another attribute of the flexible-thumbed type, as can frankness and honesty. If the thumb is very flexible, an impulsive response to life is likely. The only negative aspect of this type of personality is that there can also be a tendency to promise more than can be delivered in an effort to please others, which may need to be held in check sometimes to avoid disappointing people and appearing unreliable.

The stiff, firm thumb shows a resistant character: the less it yields and bends backwards...